 Raymond Swan IslandStats.com
Ray Swan is proof that age shouldn’t be a barrier to accomplishing your dreams. Swan started his running career in his early 30’s, and seemingly drank from the Fountain of Youth as he became “Bermuda’s undisputed King of the Road”. The long distance runner set national records, won the Bermuda Marathon Derby, represented Bermuda in the Olympics and along the way made his own mark in the Boston Marathon.
They say behind every great man is a great woman, and it’s true in Swan’s case. If it wasn’t for his wife Burnette, he might not have ever taken up the sport and we would have lost a sporting treasure. His wife and a group of friends were going to do a charity run. Swan went along on a training session as support and that sparked his interest in the sport.
Heather Brewer-Segal
Probably one of Bermuda’s greatest competitors on the international stage, and one of our best sporting ambassadors, Heather Brewer-Segal was a natural athlete who excelled on the tennis court as a teenager, representing Bermuda at the U.S. National Indoor Junior Championships in 1952.
So talented was Brewer-Segal that there was not too much surprise in Bermuda when she reached the second round at the Wimbledon Championships in 1953. What was surprising however was the fact that during the following 14 years she was to play a remarkable 80 games at the world’s Mecca for tennis players.
Albert Darrell
Bert Darrell is regarded as one of the island’s finest sailors ever. No one can touch his in the King Edward VII Gold Cup and his ability was so renown that both Australia and Great Britain asked for his advice in waging their American Cup campaigns in the 1970’s.
Darrell built his first boat, a punt, when he was 15. From there he went on to fitted dinghy sailing. In the eulogy at Darrell’s funeral in 1983 A. Martin Smith said, “He crewed on six meters where his skill at turning a boat was quickly recognized”. Smith added that Darrell was a key figure in the history of the International One Design (IOD).
Joe Ferreira
Everyone knows about the great sportsmen of the 1960’s and 1970’s. But it was the tireless behind-the-scenes work of administrators such as Joe Ferreira that made those on-field exploits possible. The story which perhaps best exemplifies the spirit of the age as well as Ferreira’s dedication to the Bermudian cause, comes from his friend and fellow sports fanatic Charles Marshall.
In those days, says Marshall, there was no international business to fund foreign cricket and football tours. The money all came from the raft of people who loved their sport. “We used to go to Johnson’s Bay and Great Bay and bag up the seaweed in potato sacks,” he said. “We would sell the bags for fertilizer for thee shillings, I think it was, to raise money to go away.
Austin Hughes
The hero of he hat-trick, the master of the billiards cue and the virtuoso of the right-arm flick. Austin Hughes conquered three different sports during the 1950’s and 60’s. Two years ago Tommy Aitcheson wrote a book about the multi-talented sports star entitled A True Bermudian Champion: a Tribute to the Sporting Life of Austin ‘Cheesey” Hughes.
Aitcheson said Hughes was one of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet on the street, but “get him out on the field and Al Capone wouldn’t have been safe with him. He played to win in the very best spirits”. Hughes played for the power-house Pembroke Juniors in football and it was not uncommon for the center-forward to score hat-tricks, often by half time.
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